We’re a bit late in posting this admittedly, but this past weekend at the Harvey Awards, Mark Waid (writer of Irredeemable, Amazing Spider-Man) had a few words to say in regards to piracy. His basic stance (from what I’ve come to understand) is that the medium and distributors shouldn’t spend their time bashing pirates but instead try and develop incentives to combat piracy and make fans want to pay for comics. Waid is a big fan of comic fans and truly believes that piracy is not the end of the world but rather a step in a new direction.
This apparently greatly upset Sergio Aragones (creator of Groo), who strongly (and vocally) disagreed. Aragones is of the more popular side, that you shouldn’t just give your work away. Lots of people work on every individual comic, from the big name writers and artists, down to inkers, colorers, letterers, editors, etc. He’s not wrong in saying that every comic you pirate potentially damns all of these creators, and he’s also not wrong in saying that when it comes down to it, piracy is stealing and stealing is illegal.
This has once again brought up the debate of comic book piracy on the good ol’ internets once again. Fans of the site will also know that this is something we’ve talked about before. It’s kind of hard to take a stance with either Waid or Aragones here, though. I honestly support Aragones because I believe that if we truly love any artistic creation (comic, movie, music – whatever) we should support it by buying it. I buy all the comics that I love in single issue or trade form. But the economy is tough on a lot of people, and as has been said on this site many times by commenters, sometimes getting comics isn’t an option (such as if you live in a foreign country, or if the comic is LONG out of print). Waid isn’t wrong here, because piracy is an inevitability in every medium now. There’s really no way to stop it, and it would be much smarter in the long run to adapt to this new element rather than do everything to stop it.
Long story short: yes, Mr. Aragones, stealing is very wrong. All of the people who put work into comics deserve to get their due if we the fans are enjoying it. But, Mr. Waid, you’re correct too. Companies do need to adapt to these changes in the consumer market as well as our consumer culture, and I’d be interested to what ideas you’d bring to the table.
Discussion Question: What do you guys think? Do you side with either Aragones or Waid? Do you fall somewhere in the middle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
